Doing it all wrong

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Buondì.

If you cook, you’ll know when your favourite kitchen knives are blunt by the fact that slicing a tomato, or worse an aubergine/egg plant, has become much more laborious, impecise and potentially dangerous to your fingers.

Yesterday it was aubergines, for a ‘sugo’, for my wife, who’s partial to them.

I have two ‘proper’ kitchen knives, that’s to say the ones I use all the time in preference to the junk. One is cast, so all-metal, including the handle; the other has a black, wooden handle and a longer, slimmer blade.

This second knife was a present many years back, and is my go-to for most types of cutting and slicing. It and its fellow live in a block on the counter, along with others that are rarely touched, apart from when I need to prise open a stubborn can or hack though a whole chicken, bones and all.

So anyway, yesterday’s aubergine required the long-bladed, black-handled favourite, but the tough skin defeated it, so I had to fish its fatter-bladed, metal-cast friend from the kitchen sink, give it a quick rinse off, and use that instead.

Sauce simmering, I got to thinking that I totally shouldn’t put off dealing with the blunt knife any longer, so located the long steel thing that came with a long-forgotten knife set and began ‘sharpening’ my slim-bladed, black-handled friend.

Frustratingly, to no avail. Minutes of scraping the grooved steel across the shining blade had no effect, and in fact appeared to even make things worse.

I examined the steel, which was worn and slightly rusted. Perhaps that was the issue?

I figured I must need a new sharpening tool, so sat down at the computer with a view to ordering one. But given that I’m in Italy, I needed to search using Italian words, which didn’t immediately come to mind,

So I decided to begin with a little basic research, in English, and Googled ‘how to sharpen a blunt kitchen knife’.

While I typically ignore the Youtube videos that appear at the top of Google search results, preferring to actually READ, I had time while the sugo was simmering so I clicked on this one – How To Sharpen Dull Knives – and immediately realised I’d been doing it all wrong!

The lady chef first showed my own sharpening tool, known as a ‘honing steel’ apparently, demonstrated how it should be used, and emphasised that this particular implement would absolutely NOT sharpen a blunt knife. It was only to be used (and then, very briefly) to ‘hone’ a knife before beginning to cut.

To sharpen a blunt knife, invece, what’s needed is either a pull-through sharpener or a whetstone, both of which were demonstrated, neither of which I possess.

Looking on the bright side, Mr Black-Handle, lovingly gifted to me decades ago by my wife (who you could meet at our Italian school were you so inclined) must be an amazingly good bit of kit to have stayed sharp despite years of me hacking at it incompetently with a honing steel.

‘Whetstone’ in italiano, by the way, is ‘cote’ or ‘pietra per affilare’, affilare being the verb ‘to sharpen’.

Amazon has plenty of options, but I refuse to order from them, so are stuck with my fatter-bladed second-choice knife, at least until I have the leisure time to drag my BMW moto from the garage and go look for a knife shop to buy a ‘cote’.

After which purchase I’ll definitely return to Youtube with a view to learning how to use it properly. Finally, at the age of fifty-eight, the shame of it.

Which puts me in mind of language-learning, and how it’s not entirely unknown for adult learners, especially older adults such as myself, possessing of life experience and an abundance of self-confidence, to insist on ‘doing it all wrong’.

The inverted commas because what counts as ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ totally depends on a person’s aim, that is to say if what you really want is to destroy the edge on your blade, then hacking at it with a honing steel would be a perfectly logical and so ‘right’ thing to do.

Some learners are obsessed with studying Italian tenses, for instance, despite the fact that Italians rarely, if ever, use most of them in speech.

Agreed, you’ll see them when reading, but said grammar-obsessed students tend not to have the time or inclination to read the language they’re learning. At least not yet, not until they’ve mastered the grammar, all of the grammar…

There are plenty of ways to waste your language-learning time to little effect but I try to be charitable and assume that wasting time is precisely your objective.

You might term what you do as ‘keeping my mind active to stave off dementia’, or insist that you really enjoy conjugating irregular verbs in tenses that you’ll never use. People are passionate about their Duolingo ‘streaks’, which is a case in point.

Va bene, va bene, you know best! The customer is always right, even when ‘wrong’. Though if ‘wrong’, invariably loathe to admit it.

HOWEVER, when things are not as you might wish them to be – when your favourite knife won’t slice through a tomato without squashing it hopelessly, or bounces right off an aubergine/egg plant – and even while you’re unwilling to consider the wisdom of your ways, there sometimes occur ‘eureka moments’ when something is so undeniably ‘better’ that it cannot be ignored.

Chatting with a native speaker teacher online, for example. Virtually every learner who’s tried it is amazed at how much more confident they feel within just a few weeks (assuming neither the teacher nor the student is a complete idiot.)

The only drawback being the potential cost, though that’s trivial for many. The problem for most people is simply their unwillingness to change their ways, to admit that their approach wasn’t having the desired effect, to try something different.

Ditto with reading and listening, which are basically free or almost so, and so much more effective than the edge-destroying nonsense that inexperienced learners waste their time on.

I’d planned to write an ebook, provisionally entitled ‘The Man Who Learnt A Language Listening To The Radio’ (I once met such a man, and tried it myself) but became dispirited that the bulk of learners refuse to listen or read at all, even about things that interest them.

That said, if you’ve got this far, you might be the rare exception! In which case I should mention that our ebooks store is running a promotion this month. The details are below.

Alla prossima settimana!

25% Off Graded Italian/Spanish/French/German Study Materials

Don’t know what ‘graded’ study materials are or how they could boost your progress with the language you’re learning? Scroll down to ++++ to find out.

But first, don’t forget the 2025 ‘Back to School’ Sale is running this week and next, which means a 25% saving on graded material for learning Italian, Spanish, French, and German.

Everything in our online store, EasyReaders.org, is a quarter cheaper until midnight on Wednesday 24th September 2025.

But only if you remember to use this coupon code:

2025-Back-to-School-25%-Off

Make your selection from our range of ebooks, which have been especially written to keep you interested and making progress.

Apply coupon code 2025-Back-to-School-25%-Off in your shopping cart to reduce the cart total by 25%!

Stock up on online easy readers, parallel texts and grammar workbooks – at an unbeatable price!

Italian | Spanish | French | German

Here’s that coupon code again:

2025-Back-to-School-25%-Off

Don’t forget to use it when you order to save 25% on the price of everything in your cart!

Italian | Spanish | French | German

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Everyone learning a foreign language is familiar with the concept of ‘level’.

Some materials are just too hard for where you’re currently at, others might seem just right, whereas the texts you worked on months ago will now, hopefully, feel easy.

We all know that it can be difficult (impossible!) to understand films and so on in the languages we’re learning, or to read an authentic article, say from a newspaper, which is written for educated native-speaker readers.

And yet, clearly, listening to the language as it is really used, and reading articles written in it, are important long-term goals, even if they seem unachievable for the moment.

Plus, it seems likely that the more we read and listen, the more meaningful our studies will be, the more new words we’ll pick up, and the more we’ll feel familiar with the grammar and structures of the languages we’re learning.

Reading and listening to the language you’re studying are unarguably good ways to speed your progress, and in any case, training yourself to listen and to read effectively in the new language is obviously going to be necessary at some point.

But authentic materials are HARD! Often too hard.

The solution to this quandry?

‘Graded’ texts, that is to say materials written by language teachers for learners like you, and designated as suitable for those who have reached or are above a particular level.

The CEFR level system uses six level bands, which are (from easiest to hardest): A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2.

Assume that students at the C levels should be reading and listening to authentic (real-life) texts and audio without too much difficulty. The graded materials at those levels, then, will approximate texts written for native-speakers.

People at the intermediate stage (the B levels) are not yet ready for ‘real’ or ‘nearly real’ listening and reading, but still need to build their skills in anticipation. So the graded materials will be an in-between step, aimed at challenging students to develop their skills further.

The easiest materials (at A1 and A2 levels) are designed to be unintimidating, which means short chapters and simple or simpler grammar and vocabulary. Their purpose is to encourage learners to get into the HABIT of reading and listening to the language they’re learning as early on in the process as possible.

The more reading & listening you do early on, the easier everything that follows will be. You’ll already be used to, for example, guessing meaning from context in a text, or getting the gist of the spoken language even when you can’t pick out every word.

Graded materials are useful at every language-learning level, but their real power can be seen when they are incorporated as an integral part of our studies right from Day 1 with a new language.

The difference between a learner who regularly reads and listens to graded materials, and one who never or rarely spends time on anything other than grammar and vocabulary exercises, is plain to see, if for no other reason than that a student who has no fear of reading and listening (because she is using materials that have been specifically written for her level, remember) comes across as being more confident and more autonomous.

How to find graded materials for your level? Our Catalog page lists materials by type and in level order, which should help.

But importantly, there’s always a free sample chapter, which you should absolutely look at before deciding to buy a particular title.

Have a look at the first few lines, the first paragraph, the first page, even the whole of the first chapter. Can you manage to figure out what’s going on in the story without too much effort, without constantly reaching for the dictionary?

If not, step down a level, try another free sample chapter, keep looking until you find something that you’re comfortable with. Don’t forget to check out the free online audio, if there is one. Usually the link is at the top of the first chapter…

Then, if the story grabs you, go ahead and buy a copy! Read a chapter a day, perhaps. There are usually eight short chapters, so in not much more than a week, you’ll be done.

At which point, you could check out other titles at the same level, or look at free sample chapters for the next level (or half-level) up, to see if you’re ready for something a little more challenging.

Aim to establish a reading/listening HABIT. Move up to the next level only when you’re comfortable, no need to rush,

Gradually, month by month, your reading/listening skills will improve, as will your knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language you’re learning.

With graded materials, such as ‘easy readers’ and ‘parallel texts’, you’ll master the language you’re studying step-by-step, almost without realising it!

P.S.

Do find some time to stock up on the easy readers, parallel texts and grammar workbooks you’ll need to improve the language you’re learning –  at an unbeatable price – as the next sale won’t be until January 2026, so a long way off!

Browse our Catalog now: Italian | Spanish | French | German

There are free sample chapters to download for all of the many hundreds of ebooks there. Enjoy finding materials for your current level, and for the level or levels you aim to reach in the future.

When you’ve made your selection, don’t forget to apply Coupon code 2025-Back-to-School-25%-Off in your shopping cart, to reduce the total price by 25%.

P.P.S.

And here’s the usual reminder to read/listen to Tuesday’s bulletin of news from EasyItalianNews.com.

Reading/listening practice will help you consolidate the Italian you’re studying, expand your vocabulary, and build vital comprehension skills.

EasyItalianNews.com is FREE to read/listen to.

Subscribing, and so receiving all three text + audio bulletins of ‘easy’ news via email each week -on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays – is also FREE.

Just enter your email address on this page and click the confirmation link that will be sent to you.

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